Methods of Creating Fluidic Barriers In Turbine Engines

ABSTRACT

Methods are provided for creating a fluidic barrier between the core stream and the bypass stream in a turbofan engine. A method comprises compressing the bypass and core streams with a fan between an upstream splitter and a downstream splitter which divides the bypass and core streams, and imparting a first momentum into the air stream proximate the fan in a region between the core and bypass streams and the upstream and downstream splitters to form a fluid barrier, wherein the first momentum of the air stream in the region is higher than a second momentum of the air stream adjacent the fluid barrier.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to concurrently filed and co-pendingapplications U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled “Splayed InletGuide Vanes”; U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled “MorphingVane”; U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled “Propulsive ForceVectoring”; U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled “A System andMethod for a Fluidic Barrier on the Low Pressure Side of a Fan Blade”;U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled “Integrated AircraftPropulsion System”; U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled “ASystem and Method for a Fluidic Barrier from the Upstream Splitter”;U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled “Gas Turbine Engine HavingRadially-Split Inlet Guide Vanes”; U.S. Patent Application No. ______entitled “A System and Method for a Fluidic Barrier with Vortices fromthe Upstream Splitter”; U.S. Patent Application No. ______ entitled “ASystem and Method for a Fluidic Barrier from the Leading Edge of a FanBlade.” The entirety of these applications are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

Fluid propulsion devices achieve thrust by imparting momentum to a fluidcalled the propellant. An air-breathing engine, as the name implies,uses the atmosphere for most of its propellant. The gas turbine produceshigh-temperature gas which may be used either to generate power for apropeller, fan, generator or other mechanical apparatus or to developthrust directly by expansion and acceleration of the hot gas in anozzle. In any case, an air breathing engine continuously draws air fromthe atmosphere, compresses it, adds energy in the form of heat, and thenexpands it in order to convert the added energy to shaft work or jetkinetic energy. Thus, in addition to acting as propellant, the air actsas the working fluid in a thermodynamic process in which a fraction ofthe energy is made available for propulsive purposes or work.

Typically turbofan engines include at least two air streams. All airutilized by the engine initially passes through a fan, and then it issplit into the two air streams. The inner air stream is referred to ascore air and passes into the compressor portion of the engine, where itis compressed. This air then is fed to the combustor portion of theengine where it is mixed with fuel and the fuel is combusted. Thecombustion gases are then expanded through the turbine portion of theengine, which extracts energy from the hot combustion gases, theextracted energy being used to run the compressor, the fan and otheraccessory systems. The remaining hot gases then flow into the exhaustportion of the engine, which may be used to produce thrust for forwardmotion to the aircraft.

The outer air flow stream bypasses the engine core and is pressurized bythe fan. Typically, no other work is done on the outer air flow streamwhich continues axially down the engine but outside the core. The bypassair flow stream also can be used to accomplish aircraft cooling by theintroduction of heat exchangers in the fan stream. Downstream of theturbine, the outer air flow stream is used to cool engine hardware inthe exhaust system. When additional thrust is required (demanded), someof the fans bypass air flow stream may be redirected to the augmenter(afterburner) where it is mixed with core flow and fuel to provide theadditional thrust to move the aircraft.

Many current and most future aircrafts need efficient installedpropulsion system performance capabilities at diverse flight conditionsand over widely varying power settings for a variety of missions.Current turbofan engines are limited in their capabilities to supplythis type of mission adaptive performance, in great part due to thefundamental operating characteristics of their core systems which havelimited flexibility in load shifting between shaft and fan loading.

When defining a conventional engine cycle and configuration for a mixedmission application, compromises have to be made in the selection of fanpressure ratio, bypass ratio, and overall pressure ratio to allow areasonably sized engine to operate effectively. In particular, the fanpressure ratio and related bypass ratio selection needed to obtain areasonably sized engine capable of developing the thrusts needed forcombat maneuvers are non-optimum for efficient low power flight where asignificant portion of the engine output is transmitted to the shaft.Engine performance may suffer due to the bypass/core pressure leakagethat may occur at reduced fan power/load settings.

Referring to the drawings wherein identical reference numerals denotethe same elements throughout the various views, FIG. 1a shows a generalorientation of a turbofan engine in a cut away view. In the turbofanengine shown, the flow of the air is generally axial. The enginedirection along the axis is generally defined using the terms “upstream”and “downstream” generally which refer to a position in a jet engine inrelation to the ambient air inlet and the engine exhaust at the back ofthe engine. For example, the inlet fan is upstream of the combustionchamber. Likewise, the terms “fore” and “aft” generally refer to aposition in relation to the ambient air inlet and the engine exhaustnozzle. Additionally, outward/outboard and inward/inboard refer to theradial direction. For example the bypass duct is outboard the core duct.The ducts are generally circular and co-axial with each other.

As ambient inlet airflow 12 enters inlet fan duct 14 of turbofan engine10, through the guide vanes 15, passes by fan spinner 16 and through fanrotor (fan blade) 42. The airflow 12 is split into primary (core) flowstream 28 and bypass flow stream 30 by upstream splitter 24 anddownstream splitter 25. In FIG. 2, the bypass flow stream 30 along withthe core/primary flow stream 28 is shown, the bypass stream 30 beingoutboard of the core stream 28. The inward portion of the bypass steam30 and the outward portion of the core streams are partially defined bythe splitters upstream of the compressor 26. The fan 42 has a pluralityof fan blades.

As shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b the fan blade 42 shown is rotating about theengine axis into the page, therefor the low pressure side of the blade42 is shown, the high pressure side being on the opposite side. ThePrimary flow stream 28 flows through compressor 26 that compresses theair to a higher pressure. The compressed air typically passes through anoutlet guide vane to straighten the airflow and eliminate swirlingmotion or turbulence, a diffuser where air spreads out, and a compressormanifold to distribute the air in a smooth flow. The core flow stream 28is then mixed with fuel in combustion chamber 36 and the mixture isignited and burned. The resultant combustion products flow throughturbines 38 that extract energy from the combustion gases to turn fanrotor 42, compressor 26 and any shaft work by way of turbine shaft 40.The gases, passing exhaust cone, expand through an exhaust nozzle 43 toproduce thrust. Primary flow stream 28 leaves the engine at a highervelocity than when it entered. Bypass flow stream 30 flows through fanrotor 42, flows by bypass duct outer wall 27, an annular duct concentricwith the core engine flows through fan discharge outlet and is expandedthrough an exhaust nozzle to produce additional thrust. Turbofan engine10 has a generally longitudinally extending centerline represented byengine axis 46.

Current conventionally bladed core engines cannot maintain constant ornear constant operating pressure ratios as bypass flow is reduced.Current conventionally bladed fan rotors do not have the flexibility inefficiently reducing fan pressure ratio while maintaining core pressure.

With reduced or no flow in the Bypass stream 30, the core stream 28relative pressure is greater than that in the Bypass stream 30. In thearea of the fan shown as 50 in FIG. 1b , higher pressure air may leakacross the region 50 from the core stream 28 into the bypass stream 30thus reducing the core pressure which has a deleterious effect on theoperation of the core and un-necessarily loading the turbine to recoverthe lost pressure.

A fluid barrier separating the core and bypass streams as describedherein, can limit the pressure loss in the core and the subsequentdegradation in output of the core engine. High pressure jets along withvortices may be arranged proximate to the fan at the interface betweenthe bypass and core streams. The jets and vortices are imparted withsignificant momentum to resist passage of the higher pressure corestream into the bypass stream, where the use of splitters are notpractical due to the positioning and location of the fan.

These and many other advantages of the present subject matter will bereadily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the inventionpertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and thefollowing detailed description of preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1a and 1b are illustrations representing conventional turbofanengines.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the Bypass and primary stream flow paths.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a turbofan engine with high pressure jetsprojecting from the low pressure side of Fan blades according to anembodiment of the disclosed subject matter.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a turbofan engine with high pressure jetsprojection from the trailing edge of an upstream splitter according toan embodiment of the disclosed subject matter.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a third splitter with multiple fan stagesaccording to embodiments of the disclosed subject matter.

FIG. 6 illustrates a turbofan with vortices origination from thesplitter through the fan region according to an embodiment of thedisclosed subject matter.

FIGS. 7a-7b shows the generation of vortices from ramps according to anembodiment of the disclosed subject matter

FIGS. 8a-8d are different surface interruptions for the generation ofvortices as described for embodiments of the disclosed subject matter.

FIGS. 9a and 9b are illustrations of vortex generators on the leadingedge of the fan according to embodiments of the present subject matter.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a method of preventing pressure leakage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 3 illustrates a Bypass flow duct 31 lying radially outward from thecore flow duct 29. The fan blade 42 is positioned upstream from thesplitter 25 that separates air flow between the ducts. The upstreamsplitter 24 is positioned upstream from the fan blade 42 at the bottomof the Inlet guide vane 15. As the inlet guide vane angle is changed,the bypass flow can be inhibited and pressure within the bypass flowduct 31 can differ from the pressure present in the core flow duct 29.Air can cross between the two ducts in the vicinity of the fan blade inregion 50 as shown in FIG. 1b thus causing detrimental engineperformance in the core as described previously.

A plurality of fluidic jets 60 that inject high pressure compressor airform the fan blade 42 into the region 50 between the upstream 24 anddownstream splitter 25 form a fluid barrier 51. The high velocity jets60 of compressed air contain enough momentum to inhibit flow leakagebetween the core 28 and the bypass streams 30. The jets 60 have inertiathat the low pressure air flowing in the ducts cannot overcome, therebyacting as a fluid barrier 51 to limit cross flow and pressure leakage inthe region 50 between the ducts.

The fluid jets 60 may advantageously have a directional component in asubstantial opposite direction of the local velocity or rotation of thefan proximate to the splitters and may also have a radial componenttowards the axis to prevent pressure leakage across the fluid jets intothe bypass stream.

A valve 62 in the system modulates the high pressure air such that flowcan be turned on and off depending on the predicted or actual cross flowbetween ducts and the detrimental effects upon the engine.

As noted previously, the control of air flow through the duct may bethrottled to a point where it can be minimized to the point where it isalmost non-existent through the use of a small and inexpensive actuator.

The high pressure gas for the jets may be provided by the compressor 26though passages 61 to the jets. An accumulator 63 may also be providedprior to the actuator/valve in order to provide an immediate source ofpressure unstrained by downstream frictional losses in the passages 61.Alternatively, another source may be used to provide the high pressureair to the jets 60.

The high pressure fluid jets 60 originate from orifices on the lowpressure side of the blades 42 wherein the plurality of orifices areradially proximate the upstream and downstream splitters in the region50. The plurality of orifices extend between the trailing edge of theupstream splitter 24 and the leading edge of the downstream splitter 25.The fluid jets may advantageously having radial component directed intothe core flow 28 as well as an axial component pointing downstream inthe core flow 28. It is envisioned that the compressed air drawn fromthe compressor 26 would represent 2-3% of the total compressor outputand thus would not be a significant source of loss.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of a turbofan engine 10. As shownthe fan blade 42 is positioned upstream from a splitter 24 thatseparates air flow between the ducts. An upstream splitter 24 ispositioned upstream from the fan blade 42 at the bottom of the inletguide vane 15. As the inlet guide vane angle is changed, pressure withinthe bypass flow duct 31 can differ from the pressure present in the coreflow duct 29. Air can cross between the two ducts in the vicinity of thefan blade 42 in region 50 thus causing detrimental engine performance.

As shown in FIG. 4, fluid jets 60 that inject high pressure compressorair from the trailing edge of the upstream splitter 24 into the region50 between the upstream 24 and downstream splitters 25. As describedpreviously these jets 50 have enough momentum or inertia such that thelow pressure air flowing in the ducts cannot overcome it and thus thejets 50 acts as a fluid barrier 51 to limit cross flow between theducts. As also discussed previously, a valve/actuator 66 in the systemmay regulate the high pressure air such that flow can be turned on andoff depending on the predicted or actual cross flow between ducts, andthe corresponding detrimental effects on engine performance, anaccumulator 63 may also be added. The high pressure jets 60 arepreferably distributed proximate to the trailing edge of the upstreamsplitter 24. The high pressure jets may be also be position on eitherthe core 28 or bypass side 30 of the upstream splitter 24 since the jets60 have an energy independent of the flow within the ducts. The relianceon free stream flow is discussed below with respect to creation ofvortices. The high pressure gas for the jets 60 is supplied by thecompressor 26 via passages 61. The jets 60 and passages 61 aredistributed circumferentially along the trailing edge.

FIG. 6 illustrates a turbofan engine with concentric core and bypassflow paths and variable inlet guide vanes in the bypass duct. As shown,pressure differences between the core duct and the bypass duct can causecross flow between the ducts in the area of the fan blade. In FIG. 6,the Bypass flow duct lies radially outward from the Core flow duct. Afan blade is positioned upstream from a downstream splitter thatseparates air flow between the ducts. An upstream splitter is positionedupstream from the fan blade at the bottom of the inlet guide vane.

As the inlet guide vane angle is changed, pressure within the bypassflow duct can differ from the pressure present in the core flow duct.The working fluid in this example air can cross between the two ducts inthe vicinity of the fan blade and cause detrimental engine performanceas explained previously.

FIGS. 7a-7b illustrate the upstream splitter 25 with a plurality ofvortex generators 70. The vortex generator 70 results in counterrotating vortices 72 that are paired and circumferentially positionedaround the exit plane (trailing edge) of the upstream splitter 24. Thevortices 72 are generated or tripped by several mechanisms as describedfurther below, these mechanisms involve interruptions in the surfacewhich disrupt and trip the bypass flow 30 or core flow 28. In FIGS. 7a-7 b, the vortex pairs are tripped using intermittent subtle ramps orwedges that initiate a vortex 72. It is a localized pressuredifferential in the flow which initiates the vortices 72. The vortices72 have momentum that tends to maintain its flow position in the region50 between the ducts that inhibits flow and pressure loss between theducts. The vortex 72 has momentum that the relative low pressure airfrom flowing in the ducts cannot overcome thereby causing the series ofadjacent vortices to act as a fluidic barrier 51 to limit cross flowbetween the ducts.

While for ease of illustration, the surface interruptions are shown onthe top side or outside surface of the upstream splitter 24. In FIGS. 7a-7 b, the surface interruptions are preferably on the inner surface ofthe upstream splitter interrupting the core flow. This arrangementbecomes more advantageous as the bypass flow/pressure is substantiallydecreased by the by the closing inlet vane guides 15 in the bypass flowpath 30.

FIGS. 8a-8d illustrate several examples of surface interruptionsenvisioned for creating the vortices. FIG. 8a shows a plurality ofridges 77 extending into the core stream 28. The ridges 77 are obliqueto the flow in order to initiate the vortices 72. FIG. 8b shows aplurality of blades 73 also oriented oblique to the air flow. The blades73 may also be rotated as to change their orientation. For example,where the pressure differential between the bypass 30 and core paths 28proximate the fan in region 50 is small, the need for a fluid barrier 51is diminished and thus the blades 73 may be oriented with the flow in afirst position 74 and only orient oblique to the flow when the pressuredifferential becomes significant in a second position 75. FIG. 8c showsthe plurality of flaps 76 extending into the core stream 28. Similarlyas described with respect to the blades, the flaps 76 may be in a flushfirst position 74 when a fluid barrier 51 is not required and may beextended to a second position 75 to initiate the vortices 72 whendesired. FIG. 8d shows a plurality of grooves 78 recessed into theupstream splitter 24 in order to trip the flow and generate the vortices72 as the fluid barrier 51. The grooves 78 may extend to the end of theupstream splitter 24 or terminate proximate but before the trailingedge.

As noted previously, the interruptions may be arranged to createcomplimentary pairs of vortices as shown in FIGS. 7a -7 b, one rotatingclockwise and the other rotating counter clockwise. Alternatively, theinterruption may be arranged to create vortices that each rotate thesame direction, or alternating between different directions as shown inFIGS. 7a-7b and FIG. 8 a.

FIG. 9a illustrates the generation of vortices 72 from the leading edgeof the fan. As shown, a vane 82 extends from the leading edge 81 of thefan proximate the upstream splitter 24. In FIG. 9a or 9 b, the vane 82is shown in the core stream 28, however while less preferable, the vane82 may be in the bypass flow 30 as well. The vane 82, in FIG. 9a acts asa low aspect ratio wing, and thus spills air from the high pressure sideof the blade 42 to the low pressure side, thus generating vortices 72that extend along the border region 50 between the bypass 30 and corestream 28. As shown in FIG. 9b , the vane 82 may be an extension of thefan blade 42 upstream, in which a significant gap 83 between the vane 82and the upstream splitter 24 allows high pressure air to escape to thelow pressure side which also results in the creation of vortices 72 as afluid barrier 51. In addition the vane 82 may be stepped in order toproduce a series of vortices on each blade and creating a radialgradient of vortices.

An embodiment of the vane may be triangular with a root and vane leadingedge. The root extending upstream of a trailing edge of the upstreamsplitter and the vane leading edge extending from an upstream portion ofthe root into the core stream and terminating on the leading edge of oneof the plurality of fan blades. The vane 82 may also be of many otherknown wing shapes that facilitate spillage to create vortices.

Alternatively other surface disruptions may be utilized on the leadingedge 81 of the fan 42 to create the vortices which act as fluid barriersbetween the core and bypass streams. For example, groves or protrusionssimilar to those described in FIGS. 8a-8d can be added to the fan bladesto generate the vortices.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a third splitter with multiple fan stagesaccording to embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. The fans 42may be nested with a midstream or third splitter 19 between them. Insuch case, the third splitter 19 would advantageously also be providedwith similar surface interruptions or jets to provide a fluid barrier 51between the third splitter 19 and downstream splitter 25.

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of a method of reducing the work performed onthe bypass stream 30, while preventing a pressure drop in the corestream 28. The ambient air stream is divided into a bypass stream and acore stream as shown in block 101. It is not uncommon for the ambientair stream to be divided into multiple bypass or core streams, and themethod is equally applicable in those instances, and thus is not solimited to the examples shown. In block 103, the flow in the bypassstream in restricted. Typically this will be through the use of inletguide vanes 15 as shown in FIG. 1B and described above. The flow mayalso be restricted by completely or partially closing off the bypassduct or ducts. The step of restricting the bypass flow may beaccomplished prior to, contemporaneously or subsequent to the step ofdividing the streams.

A fluid barrier 51 is then created between the upstream and downstreamsplitters proximate the fan to prevent leakage and pressure loss fromthe core duct to the lower pressure bypass duct as shown in block 105.As discussed above, the fluid barrier 51 may be established through jets60 on the low pressure side of the blade as shown in FIG. 3, jets 60originating from the upstream splitter 25 as shown in FIG. 4. The fluidbarrier 51 may also be established through the use of vortices, from thesplitter 24 as shown in FIGS. 7a -8 d, or vortices created from vane 82or gap 83 by the fan 42 as shown in FIGS. 9a -9 b. The core stream iscompressed by the fan, without the leakage into the bypass duct as shownin block 107, and work on the bypass field by the fan is thus reduced byminimizing pressure leakage and restricting the amount of mass flow inthe bypass stream.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and that the scope of the invention is to be definedsolely by the appended claims when accorded a full range of equivalence.Many variations and modifications naturally occurring to those of skillin the art from a perusal hereof.

What we claim is:
 1. A method of preventing pressure leakage from a corestream in a high bypass turbojet engine, comprising: dividing an ambientair stream into a bypass stream and a core stream with a upstreamsplitter; compressing the bypass and core streams with a fan, said fanbetween the upstream splitter and a downstream splitter dividing thebypass and core streams downstream of the fan; wherein the core streamhas a higher pressure than the bypass stream; imparting a first momentuminto the air stream proximate the fan in a region between the core andbypass streams and the upstream and downstream splitters to form a fluidbarrier, wherein the first momentum of the air stream in the region ishigher than a second momentum of the air stream adjacent the fluidbarrier.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of imparting a firstmomentum into the air stream comprises: injecting a plurality of highpressure fluid jets from a low pressure side of the fan proximate theupstream and downstream splitters, said fluid jets having a directionalcomponent in a substantial opposite direction of the local velocity ofthe fan proximate the splitters thereby preventing pressure leakageacross the fluid jets into the bypass stream.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising restricting the bypass stream upstream of the fan; 4.The method of claim 3, wherein the step of restricting the bypass streamcomprises rotating the inlet guide vanes in the bypass stream proximateto the upstream splitter.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofimparting a first momentum into the air stream comprises: injecting aplurality of high pressure fluid jets from the upstream splitter, saidfluid jets having a directional component substantially parallel to theengine axis thereby preventing pressure leakage across the fluid jetsinto the bypass stream.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprisingrestricting the bypass stream upstream of the fan.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the step of restricting the bypass stream comprisesrotating inlet guide vanes in bypass stream proximate the upstreamsplitter.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein the fluid jets have a radialcomponent directed into the core stream.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the step of imparting a first momentum into the air streamcomprises: forming a plurality of vortices from the upstream splitters,said vortices having an axis with a component parallel to the flow ofthe core stream thereby preventing pressure leakage across the fluidjets into the bypass stream.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising restricting the bypass stream upstream of the fan.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the step of forming a plurality of vorticescomprises providing surface interruptions on the core side surface ofthe upstream splitter
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step offorming a plurality of vortices comprises exposing the core stream to aplurality of surface interruptions on the surface of the upstreamsplitter.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of exposing thecore stream to the surface comprises moving the plurality of surfaceinterruptions from a first position to a second position.
 14. The methodof claim 11, wherein the plurality of surface interruptions are selectedfrom the group consisting of grooves, blades, wedges, ramps and flaps.15. The method of claim 9, wherein the vortices comprise a secondcomponent perpendicular to and directed into the flow of the corestream.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of imparting a firstmomentum into the air stream comprises: forming a plurality of vorticesfrom a leading edge of a portion of the fan in the cores stream, saidvortices having an axis with a component perpendicular and directed intothe flow of the core stream thereby preventing pressure leakage acrossvortices into the bypass stream.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising restricting the bypass stream upstream of the fan.
 18. Themethod of claim 17, wherein the step of restricting the bypass streamcomprises rotating inlet guide vanes in the bypass stream proximate theupstream splitter.
 19. The method of claim 16, wherein the step offorming a plurality of vortices comprises forming a pressuredifferential across opposite sides of a low aspect vane extending fromthe leading edge of the fan blades.
 20. A method of controlling apressure differential across a fluid passage connecting a first ductwith a high pressure stream and second duct with a lower pressure airstream in a turbojet engine comprising: segregating a high pressure airstream in the first duct from the low pressure air stream in the secondduct proximate the fluid passage; increasing the momentum of an airstream proximate the passage above the momentum of the high pressure airstream adjacent the air stream to form a fluid barrier to control thepressure differential.